Planning and Infrastructure Bill introduced to Parliament

The Government has today (11/03/2025) introduced the Planning and Infrastructure Bill to Parliament, which will underpin the Governments approach to ramp up development and the construction of key infrastructure. The Bill aims to speed up the planning process, and ‘remove unnecessary blockers’, which the Government says will boost economic growth, connectively and energy security whilst also delivering their environmental commitments. This Bill represents a significant change in how the Government aims to approach the planning system, and in the relationship between development and nature recovery.

Some key measures introduced in the Bill include:

Nature Restoration Fund:

A fund to ensure that there are win-win scenarios for the economy and nature by pooling contributions to fund larger environmental interventions.

Strategic Planning:

A system of spatial development strategies encompassing multiple local planning authorities to create more joined up approaches to development.

Clean Energy:

Prioritisation of clean energy projects, especially those that achieve results by 2030.

National Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP):

A faster NSIP process to deliver large scale infrastructure, streamlining consultations for windfarms, roads or railway lines.

Planning Committees:

Streamlining planning decisions through increased delegation, and empowering local councils to set their own planning fees.

The full Bill can be read here.

At CIEEM we are currently digesting the Bill and its implications and will post more in the coming days. I’ve you’d like to share your thoughts with the policy team please do get in touch at policy@cieem.net.